ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-05-29 01:11 pm

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cool.  It rained yesterday.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I set out the pots of thyme to be planted later today.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I planted two golden lemon thymes, one silver thyme, and one lime thyme in the goddess garden.  :D  The first two are old favorites, the last is new to me.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I went back outside to do more yardwork, but it's drizzling now.  I did take a few pictures of the goddess garden with the new thyme plants.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I set up the last of the wire planters with already potted flowers.  The narrow pots I have are awkward in the wider planters.  I think for future reference, I'll watch for wider, lower pots either in late-season sales or possibly next spring.  Those are good for combination plantings anyhow, which I like making.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I trimmed grass along the east end of the new picnic table.

I've seen a male cardinal and a male indigo bunting.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I filled 2 of the 6 taupe trough pots with half composted manure and half potting soil, then put them at the east end of the new picnic table.

It's drizzling again.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I filled 2 more of the 6 taupe trough pots with half composted manure and half potting soil, then put one at the east end of the new picnic table and one at the west end.

It's drizzling again.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I filled the last 2 of the 6 taupe trough pots with half composted manure and half potting soil, then put them at the west end of the new picnic table.

I've seen a fox squirrel.

EDIT 5/29/25 -- I sowed seeds in the taupe trough pots: Edible Flower Mix in one, Fragrant Mix flowers in one, 'Early Giant' leeks in one, 'Vine Peach' cantaloupe in one, borage and parsley in one, dill and 'Fluid Evolution' cilantro in one.

I watered the newly planted things.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night. 

forestofglory: A green pony with a braided mane and tail and tree cutie mark (Lady Business)
forestofglory ([personal profile] forestofglory) wrote2025-05-29 11:12 am
Entry tags:

New Post at Lady Business!

I am once again contributing to cozy SFF discourse: Domestic Labor and Community Building Rec List

This list is for all of you who said "I'd like cozy SFF, if it was the thing you talked about"
forestofglory: A green pony with a braided mane and tail and tree cutie mark (Lady Business)
forestofglory ([personal profile] forestofglory) wrote in [community profile] ladybusiness2025-05-29 11:01 am

Domestic Labor and Community Building Rec List

Last year I wrote an essay about cozy SFF. I started out writing a passionate defense of cozy SFF, then I wasn't quite happy with it and put it on the shelf for a while. When I got back to it, I realized there were some things about the current moment of cozy SFF that I don't really like. So I had to edit my piece. But even then I felt the conversation was getting away from me.

I've only become more frustrated with what's being marketed as cozy SFF and the discourse around it. I find the stuff being published isn't digging into the themes that I want to see. Meanwhile the discourse is both dismissive and full of moral panic. I think both that domestic labor and community building are important and worth telling stories about and shouldn’t be dismissed, and that it's ok to read soft comforting stories. I wish people would calm down a bit.

Read more... )
degringolade: (Default)
Degringolade ([personal profile] degringolade) wrote2025-05-29 10:28 am

More on Writing

 

Gray and yucky…’nuff said

 


 

There isn’t a new idea anywhere in the world of literature.  The “new” ideas that peddled off today have always been there.  Maybe you just haven’t read the idea yet, but it is there and will come and bite you should you publish a work and someone else reads it.

So I asked “Grok” to look into this for me, mostly because I don’t need a “correct” answer, I just need a decent approximation:

How many new novels of any genre and any publication format were published in 2024?

Exact figures for new novels published in 2024 are hard to pin down due to varying data sources and self-publishing. Estimates suggest 500,000 to 1 million new books, including novels, were published globally, with the U.S. alone seeing over 500,000 self-published titles and 10,000+ from major publishers. Novels likely make up a significant portion, but no precise genre or format breakdown is available.

https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg%3D%3D_f9b252c2-c814-411f-b181-65bfaacbd7dd

So I am working on a “new” novel in this environment.  The storyline is going to be similar to a set of stories that I have not read.  The characters will be of a stereotype that will bore a lot of people.  The setting will be hackneyed in the estimation of many readers.  The philosophy is established, regardless of which I choose.

But everyone else who is trying to get someone to read their story is operating under the same constraints.

All I have to do is create a good recipe from the same staple ingredients.  Maybe someone will read it, maybe someone won’t.  

shewhomust: (durham)
shewhomust ([personal profile] shewhomust) wrote2025-05-29 05:08 pm
Entry tags:

The start of the Reformation

Durham's new Reform County Coucil held its first meeting last week: members of the public can attend, and [personal profile] durham_rambler did.

No-one really knows what to expect. The party's election platform had all been about national policy, stop the boats and culture wars, so how will this translate into local issues? There had been predictions that there would be a low turn-out, that Reform were interested in winning the Council, but not in running it. So far, that's not the case: almost all the new councillors turned up. (Reform have lost a councillor since the election, as one of the successful candidates works for the County Council, and had to choose whether to take up his seat or keep his job; but an Independent Coucillor has since joined Reform, so it all evens up). The only thing [personal profile] durham_rambler thought worth reporting was that the new council had decided not to follow the convention whereby the chair of the Scrutiny Committee is not a member of the majority party: this, he thought, put them in a position to mark their own homework (he's not the only one who thinks that).

Despite the election rhetoric, in fact, they had not gone in all guns blazing. An interview with Andrew Husband, the new leader of the Council, confirms this. He says "Nigel is a fantastic public speaker and a really good forecaster; ultimately, what he says does happen eventually. But we could be talking four years before we shut down x number of net zero projects." I liked his explanation: "What Nigel says can be true, but he delivered it in a more dramatic way." Perhaps it can be, but is it?

Nothing to see here, then. But to keep the culture warriors happy, the flags flying at County Hall have been changed: the Ukrainian flag has been taken down, and the flag of St George raised (alongside the Union flag and the County arms). The rainbow flag has also gone, as did the banner advertising last weekend's Pride events. The Parish Clerk has been told that the County Council will not be supporting Pride next year (I don't know how much support they actually provide).

Not-all-that-interesting times, in fact.
dolorosa_12: (sunflowers)
a million times a trillion more ([personal profile] dolorosa_12) wrote2025-05-29 05:41 pm

Rally in London in support of abducted Ukrainian children

One of the worst — of many — crimes committed by Russia during its fullscale invasion of Ukraine is the systematic abduction of Ukrainian children from occupied territories, endorsed and abetted at the highest levels of the Russian state. These children, most of whom have parents or guardians, are kidnapped and taken into Russia, where they are often renamed, adopted out to Russian families, and otherwise deliberately made as difficult as possible to identify and retrieve. There are tens of thousands of such children identified by the Ukrainian government as abducted, but the true figure is likely higher. Only a fraction of these have been safely returned home.

This Sunday, there is going to be a rally in London, organised by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (a movement in which UK trade unions and other progressive organisations affiliate with equivalent Ukrainian organisations and groups; I'm a member through my own union), to highlight this particular issue, and advocate for more to be done to return these children home, and hold Russia accountable for this crime.

If you are able to attend, details of the rally are on the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign website. Please feel free to share this post widely.
regshoe: A woman in a black Victorian-style dress, holding an acoustic guitar and raising one hand to the audience (Frances)
regshoe ([personal profile] regshoe) wrote2025-05-29 05:07 pm

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)

Well, said I to myself, if I can't see Kidnapped live again I can at least go and see another play by Isobel McArthur...

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), McArthur's first big success, made its debut in Glasgow in 2018 and has since enjoyed three tours and a run in the West End; the current tour is nearing its close, but judging by the trajectory so far there may well be future ones. At the end of the play there was a big sign on the stage saying 'IF YOU LIKED IT, TELL SOMEONE', and I am dutifully telling all of you; if you don't want to read the long spoilery review, please read this bit here where I tell you it's very good and you should go and see it if you get a chance. :)

I'm giving you a longing look... )
Whatever ([syndicated profile] scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-05-29 03:32 pm

The Big Idea: Caitlin Rozakis

Posted by Athena Scalzi

While being the “chosen one” and attending a magic school may sound spectacular and all, what happens to the parents of said chosen child? New York Times Bestselling author Caitlin Rozakis explores this idea with a modern twist in her newest novel, The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association. Come along in her Big Idea as she shows you that maybe magic school isn’t so different from regular school after all.

CAITLIN ROZAKIS:

There’s a school for magic. It’s secret, hidden from mundane reality. If you’re one of the few lucky chosen, you’ll be whisked away to find that the world is far more wondrous—and dangerous—than you ever imagined. Jaw-dropping classics, ancient traditions, dark prophecies, paranormal teachers, bizarre sports, high stakes tests, you’ll face it all—hopefully with a ragtag band of misfits you learn to call friends.

It’s an incredibly common trope these days, and like many of us, I practically raised myself on it. I yearned to be told I was special. Who wants to learn algebra when you could learn to cast fireballs and befriend monsters? But then I grew up.

And had a kid of my own.

Suddenly, I was looking at all those magic school adventures in a whole new light. (It’s almost as traumatic as when I re-read Calvin & Hobbes and realized I identified with the mom.) Because think about it for a second—someone is proposing sending your child away to a place you’ve never heard of, with the promise that when they come home, they’ll be able to set the curtains on fire with their minds?

And don’t get me started on the school supply list. Yeah, I can probably grow some verbena in a pot on the deck over the summer, but you want me to send in a toad for a familiar? Where am I supposed to get a toad? PetCo doesn’t sell toads online, but they have axolotls, does that count? Can I catch one in a creek? Is that even legal, or are there laws about catching wild amphibians? Maybe this a “magic toads only” thing and I have to find a magic toad breeder. What if magic toad breeders are like puppy mills and that’s horribly unethical—oh crap, the next thing on the list is an athame, who thought it was a good idea to give children ritual daggers?

The thing is, modern parenting is absurd. Adding werewolves only makes it a little more ridiculous. After all, the school is already nut free; if half the kids have soy and shellfish allergies, is it really that much harder to accommodate the folks with sensitivities to silver, cold iron, and sunlight? (I say this as a parent of a kid who had dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut allergies that had to be steered around and am forever grateful to the parents who were willing to send in vegan alternatives to the class cupcakes.)

So as I started tackling the school system and parenthood and all the ridiculous demands the world put on my own family, I also started reevaluating some of my favorite tropes. I wondered what happened to the kids who failed their magician dueling class and so didn’t have a diploma for their resume. Whether someone needed to sign permission slips for field trips that could leave half the eighth grade maimed. Why there could be monsters living in the basement who eat the occasional child, and yet somehow no furious parents were showing up in the headmaster’s office. Because if there’s one constant across education today, it’s furious parents.

In The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Vivian is a perfectly mundane mom with no idea that magic is real until her kindergartner is bitten by a werewolf. Suddenly, she finds herself trying to navigate the politics of a hidden magical school she never knew existed. There are high stakes tests, planar incursion drills, bullying, and a dark prophecy. Actually, it’s not that much different from mundane schools (except that last bit).

But just like in mundane parenthood, the biggest hotbed of drama is…the other parents. When her peers can summon ghosts and cast fireballs and supply a unicorn for a birthday party, Vivian finds herself distinctly outmatched. Which will be more stressful—a foretold curse that sounds more like her daughter every day or the PTA WhatsApp chat?

The one thing that holds true across schools both real and magic, for both kids and adults, is that the key to keeping your sanity is finding that band of misfits you can be friends with. I know I would not have made it this far if I had not managed to make allies—with dedicated teachers, thoughtful administrators, and other parents whose kids are also facing the same challenges. The majority of us just want what’s best for our kids. But figuring out how to get there? Sometimes that’s going to take a little scrying.


The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|BAM|Bookshop|Powell’s

Author socials: Website|Instagram|Bluesky|Mastodon

pauraque: bird flying (Default)
pauraque ([personal profile] pauraque) wrote in [community profile] common_nature2025-05-29 10:41 am

Osprey nesting

I got to see an Osprey sitting on its nest!

brown and white raptor sits on a nest at the top of a wooden pole

When I came back later to show my partner, we talked to another birder who said this nesting platform has been there for a long time but in past years Ospreys have only stayed for a short time and not fledged any young. This year they've stayed much longer than usual so hopes are high for a baby! The other adult was perched in a tree nearby.

Ospreys eat only fish. (The platform is above a river.) It's interesting that small birds seem to realize they're no threat, and completely ignore them. While we were there, we saw a flock of blackbirds furiously mob and chase away a Cooper's Hawk while the Ospreys calmly looked on.
kalloway: Strings of Star-shaped lights (Xmas Lights 13 Stars)
Kalloway ([personal profile] kalloway) wrote in [community profile] smallweb2025-05-29 09:52 am
Entry tags:

Smallweb Chatter Post

How's it going, [community profile] smallweb?

This is an open post to talk about what you're working on, what you'd like to show off, cool resources, things that maybe aren't working so well, etc.

Any plans for June?
Health | The Atlantic ([syndicated profile] theatlantic_health_feed) wrote2025-05-29 08:23 am

The Conversations Trump’s Doctors Should Be Having With Him

Posted by Louise Aronson

In contrast to his aging predecessor, President Trump appears robust and energetic. Yet, like Joe Biden, Donald Trump is an elderly man, and he will become the oldest sitting president in U.S. history by the end of his second term. In light of recent revelations about Biden’s declining health, as a doctor and an expert in aging, I have been thinking about the responsibilities of Trump’s doctors to him and to the American public. If the way we care for elderly people is distinct because their bodies and risks are distinct, perhaps the care of an elderly president should be, too.

Presidents are getting older—which is to be expected, given the doubling of the average human lifespan across the 20th century. As we age, the likelihood of disease goes up significantly each decade (which makes sense because human mortality is holding steady at 100 percent). An elevated risk of disease shouldn’t exclude a person from any job—even one as important as the U.S. presidency—but in elderhood, certain diseases become more prevalent, such as heart disease and cancer, the leading causes of death for adults. After age 70, a person is also at increased risk for one or more health conditions in a category unique to old age, the so-called geriatric syndromes, which include cognitive impairment, functional decline, falls, and frailty.

On the surface, Trump seems stronger and less vulnerable than Biden did. Yet looks do not necessarily reflect risk for illness and disability. A hallmark of advanced age is its variability: One person may be physically powerful but have dementia; another might have hearing loss but no cognitive changes; a third could have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol—physiologic time bombs that increase a person’s risk of major events such as heart attacks, strokes, and death.

And Donald Trump has lived in a way that raises his risk for heart and other serious diseases as he ages. For years, he has been overweight or obese, as measured by his BMI—which doesn’t distinguish between lean, muscular weight, and fat, meaning he is likely even less healthy than his abnormal BMI suggests. His gait, though better than Biden’s, demonstrates the same weakness of many lower extremity muscle groups, and his history of eschewing formal, particularly muscle-building, exercise means that his risk for falls and frailty is increasing more quickly than they would with resistance and balance training—recent signs that he might be adopting healthier habits notwithstanding. Equally important, fat on a body indicates fat in and around the body’s critical organs and blood vessels, including the brain and heart.

To truly understand our current president’s health, as a doctor I would want to know and follow not just his BMI but also his percentages of fat and muscle, and to track his strength, hand grip, and walking speed. His doctors should be discussing those predictive measures with him, as well as the negative effects his lifestyle might have on his heart health and cancer risk.

That would be true for any older patient, but the president’s crucial role may well change which additional tests his doctors should consider. For example, routine screening for prostate cancer—which Biden reportedly did not undergo—is not recommended for men over age 70 because most, even if they develop prostate cancer, will die of something else. But these tests might make sense for a president over age 70 because the risks of a serious form of the cancer would affect not just the man but the country and the wider world. Other tests that fall into this category might include functional heart and brain scans, additional cancer screenings beyond usual age cutoffs, and certain biomarkers.

More aggressive screening would still have trade-offs for both the president and the nation. It could subject the president to unnecessary procedures and psychological stress. Opponents might use even a clinically insignificant diagnosis to their advantage. But more aggressive screening might also enable earlier diagnosis or, if a potentially disabling or lethal condition is found, succession planning.

Because the risk of adverse health events increases throughout the last third of life, we geriatricians recommend discussing what’s known as “goals of care” with each patient—to get a sense of their values and their fears. We ask about what matters most to them in their life, which situations seem worth some suffering and which do not, and how they have handled and experienced past health events. Programs proven to help people clarify their priorities and plan ahead can help patients, families, and doctors choose a course most consistent with their values and goals.

For a president, such conversations are even more essential. First, they could help the president, as an individual, think through how to separate political pressures from personal needs and family responsibilities. Second, having a plan that protects the country should be a core responsibility for anyone in high office, and an elderly president in particular should think ahead of time about how to best serve the United States in the event of a majorly debilitating health event or general decline.

Goals-of-care conversations are difficult for some people—and some doctors. If Trump’s doctors are not skilled at this sort of conversation, they should engage a consultant who is able to push him to reflect on how his answers to these questions would affect his ability to do his job, or the functioning of the country. Just as it’s the president’s responsibility to answer these difficult questions, so too is it his doctors’ responsibility to pose them.

When asked to comment, the White House did not address questions about Trump’s risk, mitigation strategies, or contingency planning, but Liz Huston, a spokesperson, said over email that Trump “receives the highest-quality medical care” from his doctors and “is in great health as evidenced by the results of his comprehensive annual physical exam.” (Huston also said the White House was not going to accept the unsolicited advice of “an activist Democrat doctor,” referencing a 2023 article on aging politicians in which I wrote, based on what reporters had told me, that journalists decades younger than Nancy Pelosi had trouble keeping up with her.)

Trump’s physicians face another challenge that most clinicians do not: Which information about their patient’s health should they share with the public? In both Trump terms, many physicians have struggled to believe the information provided by the president’s medical team and have suspected that his risks are being substantially downplayed. And now we know the problem exists in both major political parties. Biden’s team seemingly withheld information that would have made clear that he did not have the physical or cognitive ability to govern for a second term. Surely, with such high stakes, the president’s health is an exception to the usual rules of patient privacy. When a person signs up for “public office,” by definition they forfeit some of the privacy protections the rest of us are entitled to by law. Their health and ability to do their job affect hundreds of millions of lives.

The U.S. could consider imposing a maximum age limit on the presidency. But that one-size-fits-all approach risks eliminating potentially fit and favored candidates. In its absence, the person leading the country should receive station-specific, evidence-based, and person-centered care—that attends to their role, medical conditions, functional abilities, and preferences. And the American public deserves transparency about the president’s health.

aurumcalendula: detail from Velinxi's cover of vol 3 of SVSSS (Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu)
AurumCalendula ([personal profile] aurumcalendula) wrote2025-05-29 08:03 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I'm kinda excited that The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System is getting deluxe hardcovers!

When I was looking at where it can be preordered, I discovered that Hudson Booksellers has functional listing for the deluxe boxset and a 20% off coupon (plus free USPS shipping over $55).
osprey_archer: (cheers)
osprey_archer ([personal profile] osprey_archer) wrote2025-05-29 08:09 am

Hummingbird Cottage Updates

Important Hummingbird Cottage updates! First, I am sad to report that the geese after all decided not to nest on the pond, presumably flying off in search of a larger pool. However, the pond is still frequently visited by ducks and geese, and also a red hawk which swooped across the pond and snatched something small and dark from the rocks. You go, red-shouldered hawk! Keep the small rodent population in check!

The flowers have begun to blossom. Velvety purple irises, blue-violet columbines, yellow roses, lovely gold-pink roses like a sunrise, these last outside the window of the downstairs bedroom, which at last forced me to remove the mattress blocking the window -

I have not yet told the story of the mattress. So. At a mattress fundraiser for my old high school, I bought a queen size mattress on clearance, only to discover upon delivery that my bed frame was, in fact, a full. This ended with the mattress leaning against the window for a month, until the roses forced my hand, and I took apart the old bedframe and lowered the new mattress to the floor, where it will reside till I get an appropriately sized bedframe.

(Hilariously, a week after my mattress misadventure, my former roommate bought a new mattress for a bedframe that was surely a full. But NO. That bedframe was in fact a queen.

One would like this to end with the trading of the bed frames, but Julie understandably wished to keep the charming wooden sleigh bed and therefore cut it down to size.)

The weeds are getting away from me, in particular the lemon balm (a variety of mint that is spreading all along the shady north side of the house). However, yesterday evening I did get rosemary and chives from the farmer’s market, which I planted, having cleverly come out through the garage in order to keep Bramble inside… only to look up from planting the rosemary at the sound of a happy meow. Bramble trotted past, intent on exploring the neighbor’s patio, which I must admit I’ve also been curious about, so I followed him nothing loath.

The Hummingbird Cottage is half of a duplex - all the houses in this condominium development are, except the ones that are fourplexes - but I’ve never seen the neighbors in the other half of my duplex. Nor have I heard any noise from their half of the house, seen their car, or seen a trash can pulled to the curb by their driveway.

Through the patio door as I chased Bramble (happily hiding under an overgrown bush), I saw a dining room set with a jacket draped over a chair, so someone must live there at least occasionally? A mystery.

Bramble eventually scampered down to the pond, and then apparently decided he’d had enough, as he docilely allowed me to pick him up and deposit him inside. Possibly all that water was a little alarming. I finished planting the rosemary and chives and contemplated the best place for a cherry tomato plant, but as I have not yet acquired said plant, that is a problem for another day.

Also, I found the perfect little wicker cart for my houseplants! Admittedly there is currently only one houseplant, but now that I have a home for more they will surely come into my life. The cart is currently a somewhat battered yellow and needs a wash and a coat of white spray paint, but it was only twenty dollars at the secondhand shop, and anyway how often do you see a charming wheeled wicker cart for sale anywhere?
mrissa: (Default)
mrissa ([personal profile] mrissa) wrote2025-05-29 06:49 am
Entry tags:

Beasts of Carnaval, by Rosália Rodrigo

 

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Sofía has been waiting for years for her twin brother Sol to return. He was taken away by their former owner, now employer, to serve as his valet during a stay at an expensive resort, and neither of them has been heard from since. Adalina, her owner's daughter and her best friend, insists on accompanying her--which means Sofía has access to the absolute most lavish and decadent aspects of the resort while she's searching for her father.

This is, however, a fantasy novel. So the resort is ominously not the paradise it seems. Instead of having her questions answered, Sofía gets lost in a jumbled spiral that even her scientist mind can't make sense of. No one around her seems to notice that anything is wrong, but the one thing she can hold onto--she hopes--is that she is there to find Sol, or at least find out what happened to him.

Most of the other specifics I could give here would be major spoilers, so I will just say some more elements of this book: intense grappling with the interpersonal ramifications of colonialism. Aro-ace heroine. Stubborn, imperfect, caring community members whose vision for their community doesn't always line up. Deeply weird magic happenings. And, of course, the titular Carnaval, in all its vivid glory.

Language Log ([syndicated profile] languagelog_feed) wrote2025-05-29 10:43 am

The implications of chimpanzee call combinations for the origins of language

Posted by Victor Mair

The origins of language
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (May 9, 2025)

Summary:

    Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language. Human language, however, allows an infinite generation of meaning by combining phonemes into words and words into sentences. This contrasts with the very few meaningful combinations reported in animals, leaving the mystery of human language evolution unresolved. 

Discussing:

Cédric Girard-Buttoz, Christof Neumann, Tatiana Bortolato, Emiliano Zaccarella, Angela D. Friederici, Roman M. Wittig, Catherine Crockford. Versatile use of chimpanzee call combinations promotes meaning expansion. Science Advances (5/9/25); 11 (19) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adq2879

Abstract:

Language is a combinatorial communication system able to generate an infinite number of meanings. Nonhuman animals use several combinatorial mechanisms to expand meanings, but maximum one mechanism is reported per species, suggesting an evolutionary leap to human language. We tested whether chimpanzees use several meaning-expanding mechanisms. We recorded 4323 utterances in 53 wild chimpanzees and compared the events in which chimpanzees emitted two-call vocal combinations (bigrams) with those eliciting the component calls. Examining 16 bigrams, we found four combinatorial mechanisms whereby bigram meanings were or were not derived from the meaning of their parts—compositional or noncompositional combinations, respectively. Chimpanzees used each mechanism in several bigrams across a wide range of daily events. This combinatorial system allows encoding many more meanings than there are call types. Such a system in nonhuman animals has never been documented and may be transitional between rudimentary systems and open-ended systems like human language.

A far cry from the calls of Dr. Dolittle's garrulous animals.

 

Selected readings

[h.t. Ted McClure]

Language Log ([syndicated profile] languagelog_feed) wrote2025-05-29 10:41 am

Mehercule?

Posted by Mark Liberman

Paul Krugman, "Is There a Dignified Legal Way, Preferably in Latin, to say 'Holy Shit'?", 5/28/2025:

A court just threw out Trump's whole trade agenda.

It will take me a while to digest this […]

Some more coherent thoughts in the morning, after a gallon or so of coffee.

Google Translate's suggestion is "Mehercule!"

The entry in Lewis & Short (along with my dim memory of Plautus from high school Latin) suggests that (the various forms of) this exclamation expressed emphatic assertion more than emphatic surprise — though looking through a couple of examples, I'm not entirely sure, e.g. from Plautus' Amphitryon:

Perii, dentes pruriunt;
certe advenientem hic me hospitio pugneo accepturus est.
credo misericors est: nunc propterea quod me meus erus
fecit ut vigilarem, hic pugnis faciet hodie ut dormiam.
oppido interii. obsecro hercle, quantus et quam validus est.

Henry Thomas Riley's  translation:

I'm quite undone, my teeth are chattering. For sure, on my arrival, he is about to receive me with the hospitality of his fist. He's a merciful person, I suppose; now, because my master has obliged me to keep awake, with his fists just now he'll be making me go to sleep. I'm most confoundedly undone. Troth now, prithee, look, how big and how strong he is.

In any case, the various forms of "by Hercules" aren't really the sort of thing that Prof. Krugman is looking for, namely a "dignified legal way" to express shocked surprise — probably as a referential noun phrase rather than a performative exclamation.

An alternative for Prof. Krugman might be Law French, though I doubt that "putain de merde" was current in 13th century England, in law courts or otherwise. And again, it's not really the right morpho-syntactic (or pragmatic) category.

After spending a few minutes thinking about this, I realize that linguists don't have a very good taxonomy for the contextual interpretation of exclamations (and similar expressions). At least, I don't have one — readers may provide suggestions…

And there's also the obvious point that the cultural evolution of exclamatory idioms has the same sort of illogical logic as other types of meaning change. The old-fashioned English oath "by Jove!" has no direct Latin counterpart, as far as I know — it's just a substitution to preserve meaning while avoiding blasphemy, which "by Hercules" would not accomplish. Or consider the Quebecois "tabarnak", which is in principle available to other bible-believing cultures, but has not been adopted by them.

Update — In a comment on Krugman's substack, Robert Hartinger offers some alternatives. His conclusion:

In summary, there's no single, perfect Latin equivalent for "Holy Shit" that carries the exact same emotional weight and vulgarity as in modern English. The closest you might get to the feeling of shock and strong emotion would be "Dī Immortālēs!" or by using "Merda!" as a standalone expletive for frustration or disgust.

 

 

sholio: (B5-station)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-05-29 02:37 am

Babylon 5 fic for Mismatched Tropes Flash

The Mismatched Tropes Flash exchange had author reveals while I was traveling, and I wrote:

Last Minute Save (Vir & Londo, 1600 words)
In which Vir gets drugged and almost kidnapped/intergalactically trafficked, and Londo gets to be a Big Damn Hero.

p.s. Incredibly random Tumblr poll on whether Centauri or Narns have a higher body temperature FOR SCIENCE. (And fic.) If you do not have a Tumblr account, feel free to provide opinions in a comment.
mxcatmoon: Dukes Waterfall (Dukes Waterfall)
My Fannish Corner ([personal profile] mxcatmoon) wrote in [community profile] thisfinecrew2025-05-29 02:08 am

Weather and Climate Livestream

There's so many bad things going on requiring our attention that the cuts/firing in the meteorology and climate science communities gets less attention, but having a fully staffed NOAA is an important issue. Right now, there is a 100-hour livestream going on to call attention to how vital these services are, especially as hurricane season is upon us.  I have it on in the background right now.

What can we do? Watch the livestream, call our Representatives, and go to 5 Calls for sample script/letters.

Info and schedule: The Weather and Climate Livestream

Direct YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rG4ePBqD-E